True handicap races with extreme conditions have long become a thing of the past.
Steve Crist occasionally writes about how he feels all handicaps should be finished. They basically have been, but you still have your examples of trainers like Larry Jones calling Havre De Grace's 123lbs weight assignment in the Apple Blossom unfair.
A lot of former handicaps like the Clement L. Hirsch and Lady's Secret were discontinued a few years ago.
Here was the justification for them when true handicaps existed and across many class levels...
A lot of shipping options existed in that period just as now -- but tracks almost never would buckle. The days of seeing horses give other horses 40 pounds away are gone.